Centurion residents up in arms over City billing
Residents suspect exorbitant bills are used to collect more money to satisfy the Eskom debt.
Centurion residents are up in arms about the Tshwane metro’s billing system after claiming to have been overcharging for services.
Speaking to Rekord, Fawzia Boycen said she suspects that the municipality overcharged to collect enough money to pay Eskom.
Boyce said her bill for the past month was concerning as she could not imagine she, her husband and their two grandchildren could use up so much electricity.
“I got a bill for R16 000 this month. They threaten to cut our services. My neighbour was also complaining,” she added.
Recently the power utility threatened to disconnect electricity to the municipality due to nonpayment of its R1.6-billion debt.
According to Eskom, the municipality failed to honour its payment initially agreed to by both parties, instead only paying R68-million by the end of August.
Meanwhile, the municipality’s spokesperson Sipho Stuurman advised residents to always monitor their consumption to avoid overpaying for services.
Stuurman urged residents who disputed their bills to approach the municipality for them to be dealt with accordingly.
“Residents who have a complaint about their billing should come to the metro to lodge a dispute or use e-Tshwane platforms to raise their dissatisfaction,” he added.
He further dispelled the notion that the municipality was overcharging residents to service the Eskom debt, adding that the municipality was not trying to pass the buck on to consumers.
Stuurman said the power utility had rejected the metro’s payment plan but it was making daily payments ranging from R20-million to R90-million.
“As an example, yesterday we paid R90-million to Eskom and the previous two days, R80-million, so we are making our daily payments to Eskom,” the spokesperson added.
He concluded by saying as of Tuesday this week the municipality’s outstanding balance with the utility was sitting at R1-billion.
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